Spawned of Dreams
by Whispatchet
Summary: Rewritten with a plot. Still mostly the same, but you'll get over it. Zim is a bounty hunter, and his personality has like, been warped or something. He's not in character so to speak. Slight onesided PAZR... but yeah. R&R!
1. Memories

A sleek, black and silver ship smoothly and slowly glided through the empty confines of space.

The ship was empty, save for the smallest handful of humanoid creatures.

Two of them sat at computers on the bridge, one tended to another in the medical bay, and the final one stood solemnly on an elevated platform at the rear of the bridge, watching the stars dash past as the ship progressed through space.

One of the creatures that sat at the computers spun around in its chair and looked up at the one on the platform.

"Sir, what are you thinking about? You've been awfully quiet these last few days."

At first it seemed like he had not heard. But then, he slowly turned his head and looked down with his large crimson eyes.

"Nothing in need of mention, Cairn. I was simply remembering the events of the past… the bloody horror that no creature should ever see."

Cairn was of a different species to that of the captain.

He refused to have any others of his kind involved.

"Sir, are you sure you do not wish to relieve the grief of baring this horror of yours alone?" Cairn asked kindly, with his crystal blue eyes shimmering.

"No… I'm not. But I wouldn't wish my grieves on anyone… save those who caused it." The captain turned on his heels and walked out of the room.

Cairn turned to his companion.

"Do you know anything of the suffering he's endured, Max?" he asked.

Max, a human, looked at Cairn solemnly. "No more than anyone else; That the only people he ever wished to please, struck him down with the cruelty of ten thousand burning knives."

* * *

The doors to the medical bay slid open as the captain approached them.

"How is he?"

A small blue and silver robot looked up at the creature that just entered the bay.

"Better!"

The captain smiled. "Thankyou GIR."

"You're welcome!" The small robot said with his usual enthusiasm, which could almost always be described as insanity, and often was.

The captain walked over to a bed on the far side of the room and looked down at the creature on it, standing rather stiffly, holding his hands behind his back.

"Do you feel better now?" he asked.

The creature on the bed was tall by human standards. He had thin limbs, which were a pale green colour, not unlike the captain's own, and bold blue eyes, which were half open, looking up.

Slowly, he moved his head, in a gesture that was clearly identifiable as a nod for yes, and a slight smile appeared on his face.

The captain smiled.

"Good. You rest and recover. We still need, and want, you alive." He turned to GIR. "GIR, stay here and tend to him until he has fully recovered."

"Yes Sir!" The robot replied, saluting and flashing red quickly, before rushing over to the occupied bed as the captain turned to leave.

The captain paused at the door.

"Oh, and GIR?"

"Yes?"

"Try not to hurt him."

The captain didn't see the small robot saluting, with his tongue poking out at the corner of his mouth.

* * *

The door to the captain's quarters shut tight behind him.

He sighed, and looked out into the room. It was larger than that of his ever-shrinking crew, but he still kept it small, so he could not feel like he had accomplished anything great in his position as the leader of his small group.

On the far wall, there was a small fireplace, with a thick tube that led to the outside of the ship coming off it to relieve the smoke. The tube was ducted with valves, much like those in the human blood system, to move the smoke along, and to prevent the air and the other things in the room to be sucked out into the vacuum of space.

The captain took his usual seat in a high-backed chair in front of the fireplace.

He looked down at the remaining ashes in the bottom of the fireplace. One corner of a burned picture stuck out of the black dust, with the picture still bright and clear.

The remaining part of the image was one round, red eye, staring angrily out into the space… like whoever it was were angry about his picture being burnt.

The captain grimaced as he looked at the remaining scrap of picture, and struck the fire up again, watching the picture burn, as it failed to escape the flames a second time.

Feeling pleased with his little accomplishment; he leant back in his chair. He let his head droop against his shoulder as he slowly fell asleep before the flames.

His memories returned to him.

"You will be sent to a planet so mysterious, no one has even heard of it." The Red Tallest said, in a tone that the small invader couldn't identify.

"_Right. And those who have heard of it dare not speak its name." The Purple Tallest added, looking away._

"_What's its name?" The small invader asked._

"_Oh, I dare not speak it."_

_Why couldn't I pick it up then?_

"GIR, reporting for duty!" The little robot said saluting. He was red and silver. 

"_GIR?" The small invader asked. "What does the 'G' stand for?"_

_The robot's colour changed from red to a light blue in a second._

"_I don't know!"_

_GIR started hitting himself in the head and laughing._

"_Is it supposed to be stupid?" The Invader asked._

"Its not stupid… its advanced!" 

_Another lie. Bastards._

"_You are big fat stupid fucking moron!"_

The small Irken had never seen The Red Tallest so infuriated before.

"_Now get out of my sight, and never ever EVER come back, otherwise I will stop plotting behind your back, and kill you in front of the entire fucking Empire!"_

_Two guards came and took the small invader wannabe by the arms and dragged him out._

"_Bye bye!" The Purple Tallest said waving. "Bye forever, ZIM!"_


	2. Bounty

Zim shot up, dripping in a cold sweat, which left small blisters on his pale green skin.

"Damn dreams…" he grumbled as he wandered across his room to the door, and strode out of his room into the hallway with long strides, taking full advantage of the long legs that had grown from the short ones he had had several years earlier.

Gods, how he loved the concept of 'growth spurts'.

He wandered to the bridge, where some commotion seemed to be occurring, as he could hear the sounds coming from that location.

The doors slid open, and Zim froze in his tracks.

"What the…?"

His little blue robot was spinning around on the floor, something he had once described as 'brake-dancing'

"GIR!"

The little robot froze.

"What are you doing? I told you to stay in the Medical Bay with Damaei until he recovered!"

"But I did!"

"…What?"

"Zim…"

Zim spun around quickly, and saw the pale green creature identified as Damaei, leaning against the wall beside the wall.

"Jeez, that was fast." Zim muttered.

Damaei grinned, flashing a set of sharp, pointed teeth.

"I have accelerated healing, remember?" Damaei laughed slightly.

"Yes. How ignorant of me." Zim replied in a bored voice. "It should have taken longer than that though…"

Damaei raised an eyebrow. "It took three days."

"Three days?" Zim began to perspire again.

"Did you loose yourself in your dreams again Zim?" Max asked playfully.

Zim spun around and gave Max a deadly glare. "Have any new assignments come in?" he asked and an angry growl.

"Just one." The human replied, recoiling and turning to look at his screen. "And you're not going to believe it."

* * *

Tallest Red sat on the bridge of the Massive, shovelling popcorn into his mouth.

His companion, Purple sat beside him, slurping his drink noisily through a straw.

Red looked over at Purple when he finished his popcorn… He was really thirsty.

"Hey, gimme some of that." He said, reaching for Purple's drink.

"No! Get your own!" Purple whined, putting his drink out of Red's reach.

Red pouted for a few seconds before yelling, "Someone get me a drink!" loudly.

Almost instantly, a short waiter Irken appeared and handed his leader a drink on a tray. Red grabbed the beverage and gulped it down in one go. He exhaled, and put the empty cup back on the tray.

"Thankyou." He said airily.

* * *

Zim looked down at the assignment on Max's screen.

"Interesting…" he whispered.

Max looked up at Zim. "D'you wanna call and discuss terms?" he asked.

Zim nodded.

Max pressed a button on his keyboard and the main screen lit up with the image of a small creature with two curved horns on his head. A Vortian.

"Greetings." Zim said, nodding.

"Greetings Hunter. I take it you are accepting my assignment?" the creature replied.

"Perhaps." Zim's square eyes bore at the screen. "First, I'd like to know who I'm working for."

The creature looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking. "I am Lard Nar. I am the leader of the Resisty, a resistance against the Irken Empire."

Zim opened one eye more than the other, making it look like he was raising an eyebrow.

"I doubt you have been having much luck with something like that."

"Don't you _dare _judge me." Lard Nar growled.

Zim smiled. His employer was getting irritated.

"What are you offering?" he asked.

Lard Nar's eyes narrowed. "I'll give you ten million monies."

Zim almost laughed. "I can understand your feelings… but ten million is not enough."

"WHAT!" Lard Nar was outraged. "How dare you!"

Zim remained calm and did not move.

Lard Nar growled. "I'll double the price. I'll give you twenty million… just bring them to me, one way or another."

Zim grinned, showing off his zipper-like teeth. "As you wish."

* * *

"I don't believe you accepted this Zim." Damaei huffed, adjusting the sight on his laser cannon.

Zim sat on the elevated platform, with a long katana in his hands. It was an exquisite Earth weapon, and he had developed unmatched skills with it.

"An assignment is an assignment. Besides, it gives me a chance to get even." he replied, sharpening the blade on his weapon.

Max looked over at his leader. "Y'know, you learned how to use that thing faster than anyone I've ever seen. You must really love that sword to be able to use it the way you do."

Zim looked down at Max. "True enough. I do find myself with a fondness for this blade. And as for learning it faster, you had only ever seen other humans until you met me."

Max nodded and adjusted the protective armour on his arms.

Zim looked out in the direction of Max's home planet, Earth. He hated that filthy rock now even more than he did when he first got there. He would have completely destroyed it if Max hadn't talked him out of it.

Max… the day he met that human child was life changing for the Irken soldier. He made a mental note to record it one day.

"Sir, Massive in sight." Cairn said, pulling the ship to a slower speed.

"Good. Everyone, get yourselves ready and prepare for attack." Zim announced.

"Zim wait! I'm not done reasoning with you!" Damaei whined, curling his spindly hands into fists in front of him.

Zim spun around. His eyes were glittering with anticipation.

"You're either in or out Dama! What's it going to be?"

Damaei grimaced. "I pledged my loyalty to you till I draw my last breath… But I'm begging you to think this through further! Attacking the Massive is suicide! It would be insane!"

Zim scoffed. "You're afraid of a little insanity? Since when have _we_ been sane?"

"Come on Dama!" Max called from the other side of the room. "This is the game!"

Damaei hissed through his teeth and grabbed his weapon.

"If I'm gunna die, it might as well be doing this!" He grinned, bracing his weapon on his shoulder.

Zim laughed.

* * *

Red and Purple both fell out of their chairs as the Massive shook violently.

"What the hell was that?" Red demanded as he sat up on his knees.

"We've been hit!" one of the technicians around the room exclaimed.

"With what?" Purple asked.

No one had time to answer. The Massive shook again, throwing the Tallest off their feet again.

"Mother of Irk!" One of the technicians cried suddenly.

"What is it?" Purple asked.

"We've been boarded!"

"WHAT!"

Suddenly the power died. The room was dark and quiet. Everyone waited for something to happen in apprehensive silence.

The silence was broken by a low hissing, which was followed by an explosion which blew open the door to the bridge.

As the smoke cleared, three creatures ran through the devastated doorway, and quickly bound, gagged and blindfolded all the workers on the bridge, leaving only the Tallest untouched.

The Irken leaders stood, sensing the presence of a being with great power and authority.

Two figures walked slowly through the door. One, was very short, and had glowing, light blue eyes. It was a SIR. The other figure was tall.

He was Irken.

The Tallest looked at the Irken who had just entered the room curiously. They watched as he walked right up to them and stood before them; not as a loyal servant, but as a proud warrior… as an opponent. As an opponent who stood only two inches shorter than they.

"Who are you?" Red growled, feeling definitely threatened by this tall Irken who had stormed their ship.

The Irken chuckled. "My Tallest, you do not remember me?"

The Tallest stared at the slightly shorter Irken.

"You don't? How disappointing." The Irken paused. "I, my Tallest, am Zim." He said, bowing.

"ZIM!" The Tallest exclaimed together. "You… you're _alive_?" Purple added.

Zim grinned. "Yes. And full of goo." He paused, almost laughing at the looks on the Tallests' faces. He knew that they remembered what he had said to them when he first contacted them from Earth.

"Except," he continued, "unlike the last time you asked me that, I'm not full of mission goo."

"I would have thought you would have known better Zim." Red growled. "I'm surprised you don't remember what I said when you left."

Zim laughed. "Oh no, I haven't forgotten. In fact, I'd enjoy seeing you try to do as you threatened Red."

Red's eyes flashed.

"How dare you! You insolent bastard! I swear, if you touch either one of us…"

Red cut short mid-threat as he found the point of Zim's katana pointed at his throat.

"I don't have to touch you to kill you Red. There are far better ways."

Zim's antennae twitched as he picked up the faintest whisper of sound, a whimper of fear; coming from the direction of the other Tallest, Purple. Zim knew the sound well; being a Bounty Hunter had its advantages. He sidestepped Red, to be face-to-face with the other Irken Emperor.

"What was that?" He cooed softly, looking straight into Purples lavender eyes and still holding Red at sword-point behind him.

Purple found himself unable to speak.

Zim exhaled softly. "You really are beautiful." He whispered, catching Purple by surprise. "It's to bad… that I have to do such cruel things to you."

"You… you don't have to…" Purple said quietly.

Zim took a long, elegant step away from Purple, and smiled sadly. "But therein lies the problem, because I do!" he took a step closer to Red. "It's what I get paid for." He whispered, with his crimson eyes an inch away from Red's ruby ones, which suddenly became very round.

"You're a Bounty Hunter!" the Tallest exclaimed.

"How observant of you. Yes, I most certainly am. And today, I am hunting the biggest bounty of all; the twenty million monies that the Resisty has put on your heads!"

"THE RESISTY!" both the Tallest cried in unison.

Zim nodded and sheathed his sword, much to Red's relief.

"Yes, the Resisty."

"Why are you doing this Zim?" Purple asked fearfully.

For the first time in a long while, Zim's eyes went wide.


	3. A Thousand Horrors

"Why?" Zim breathed in disbelief. "Why? After all you put me through you ask why!"

Zim's crew shrunk back. They feared the worst. Only GIR remained near him.

Before the Tallest knew what was happening, Zim pulled his hand back and slapped Red in the face as hard as he could. Red's head snapped back, and his hand shot to his throbbing face, with his thin fingers barely hiding the handprint on his cheek.

"I put my life in your hands! I suffered every trial that the miserable Planet Earth could throw! All of it for you! And you tore me down!"

Red and Purple were beginning to shrink back away from Zim.

"But even that was not enough for you! You still tore at me, TORUTURED ME!"

Zim swung his hand around again, and left a mark on Red's other cheek.

Red bit back the tears that were threatening to burst from his eyes. He wouldn't give Zim the satisfaction of seeing him cry.

"Zim, please don't do this…" Purple pleaded. "We can give you whatever you want, ships, forces…"

"HA!"

Purple's pleas were cut off by Zim's crazed laughter.

"Look around you. I already have my own forces. I have my own ship. There is nothing that you could give me, to avoid what I am going to do to you."

Purple shrunk back, pointing his sad, violet eyes at the floor.

"But…" he whispered.

Zim's rage subsided slightly, and he walked right up to Purple. He lifted the frightened Irken's face so that he was looking at him.

"You participated. Even after Red told me my mission was a lie… even after all that you had made me suffer, you still wanted to torture me, still wanted to see me in pain… It was _your idea_ dear Purple, your idea to send me to Dirt, and your idea to send me to Aquatis. You wanted to see me burn. The wounds on my flesh have long since healed, but the part of me that wished to serve you was totally burned away. There is nothing there to heal. I faced a thousand horrors. And it is your fault."

Tears lined the bottom of Purple's eyes. Zim was blind to his tears, and circled him. Touching Purple's arms ever so gently, Zim put the Irken leader in binders.

Max quietly approached and led Purple out while Zim turned to Red.

Red knew that there was no way out. Zim was blind to threats, blind to pleas, blind to tears. But Red wouldn't let Zim see his tears. He didn't deserve them.

As Zim bound Red's hands behind his back, Red slumped his shoulders and glared back at his captor.

"Do you understand forgiveness?" He hissed.

Zim spun him around and looked deep into Red's eyes.

"Yes. I've asked for it often. It seems that you are the one who does not understand."

* * *

Red and Purple were held in a small room on Zim's ship. They knelt on the floor; hands still bound behind them, for what seemed like an eternity, till someone opened the door and entered the room.

It was the human, Max.

After tightly shutting the door behind him, the human removed the Tallests' binders, and sat cross-legged on the floor in front of them.

"Why did you release us?" Purple asked quietly.

"Well, it's not like you're going anywhere, and I'm sure as hell not going to feed you." Max replied, pulling two boxes out of his backpack. He handed a box to each of the Tallest, who took them, and opened them happily.

Inside, was a small assortment of snack foods, plus a juice box.

While Purple near inhaled his food, Red ate his slowly, keeping his ruby eyes fixed on the young human.

Max noticed.

"If you wanna ask me something, go right ahead. I'd prefer if you did that, rather than sit there and stare at me." He said leaning back. "I'm not going anywhere till you finish anyhow."

Red looked down at the box of food in his hands.

"Did Zim tell you to give us food?" He asked.

"Yep. He sure did. Wouldn't have done it if he didn't."

"But…" Red paused. "Why would he do something like that? He was ready to kill us a while ago."

Max smiled. "That's true, but there's a lot more to Zim than his emotions give away."

"I'll bet." Red muttered bitterly. "He's a bloody defective."

Max raised an eyebrow. "Is that what you call people who are different? Defectives?"

Red was quiet.

Max blinked. "Uh huh. Well, Zim is proud and careless, anyone will admit that, but he's more complicated than that."

"What do you mean?" Purple asked, sipping his juice.

"I don't know how to explain it. Maybe he will, if you ask him nicely."

"I doubt it." Red growled.

"If we say anything to him, he'll probably kill us where we stand… Irk knows we deserve it." Purple added, looking away.

"What!" Red exclaimed, looking at Purple. "We don't deserve anything of the sort! Zim's a defective, so it doesn't matter what we do to him!"

"That's an odd way of looking at things." Max interjected.

"Excuse me?" Red hissed, turning to the human.

"Well, on Earth, we don't treat people who are different like shit. Everyone is a living creature, and should be treated as such."

"That's stupid." Red growled turning away and dropping his lunchbox on the floor.

Max looked at Red curiously, before picking up the empty lunchboxes and standing up.

"Seems to me, that it's that attitude that's got Zim so riled. Try changing your point of view." Max paused at the door. "Zim might let you live longer."

Max left the room without another word, leaving the Tallest in the dark.

* * *

"You're right; he is stubborn as hell." Max said, taking his seat on the bridge.

Zim looked down at the human. "What did you say to them?"

"Don't stress yourself. I didn't say anything, but I did try and get them to see things from your point of view. The purple one seemed to, but the red one refused to give you a break."

Zim laughed. "That's Red for you. He's stubborn, and I doubt that will change."

Max grinned and looked around at the other crewmembers on the bridge. His gaze rested on Damaei, who looked really worried.

"What's bothering you Dama?" The human asked.

"This was too easy. Why hasn't the Irken military come after us?"

"They don't want to harm their Tallest." Zim said. "They will first try to contact us and reach an agreement, and, failing that, they will try to take our ship. If that fails, then the empire crumbles into chaos, and emergency measures are taken."

"Which would be what?" Cairn asked.

"I don't know. It's never come up."

This only furthered Damaei's worry, but before he had a chance to express his concern, an alarm sounded.

"Incoming transmissions from the Massive." Cairn said, looking at his monitor.

"How's that for timing." Max scoffed.

"Connect." Zim said.

The screen clicked on, and an image of a group of Advisors to the Tallest appeared on the screen.

"Advisors! How may I assist?" Zim said almost mockingly.

"Zim!" One of them said angrily. "Release the Tallest!"

Zim almost laughed at the Advisor's demand.

"Sorry, but that is not going to happen."

"Release them or else!"

That time Zim did laugh.

"'Or else?' That's a fair threat to give to the one who holds the Tallests' fates! I suggest you take your armada and go back to Irk, because the Tallest belong to me now."

Zim motioned to Cairn and the blue-eyed creature cut the transmission.

"Well that went well." Damaei grumbled.

"I'll agree." Zim said, smiling to himself.

"Now what?" Max asked.

"Now, we use the Tallest to avoid any unnecessary confrontation."

"How?"

Zim grinned. "Get them and bring them here. We'll be having company soon."

* * *

The rescue squad boarded Zim's ship with no trouble. They weren't even met with any defence! Although it was strange, they did not loose sight of what their mission was. The group of soldiers, along with the Advisors that had contacted Zim, moved through the ship, searching every room, until finally, they reached the bridge. One of to soldiers kicked the door down, and the group swarmed the room, only to freeze in their tracks.

"I doubt you want it to come to this Advisors!"

In the centre of the room, Zim stood over the Tallest, who were bound in a square frame. They sat on their knees, and their arms were stretched out above them. Zim's katana hovered above their heads, an image of death and suffering for the tallest.

"Zim, release them! I won't say it again!" The Head Advisor said angrily.

"Good." Zim said, tightening his grip on his sword. "Because I don't want to hear it again. Leave my ship now Advisors, and the Tallest will not suffer by my hand."

The Advisor narrowed his eyes. "You wouldn't dare harm them."

Zim scoffed. "I already hold them prisoner. From there, it's only a simple swish of this blade."

Zim held his sword higher.

"Now, leave my ship, or I will kill them."

"You're bluffing!"

"Can you risk it?"

The Advisor scrunched his hands into fists. He had no choice. He hung his head, and motioned for the others to leave.

Neither of the Tallest looked up. They knew the rescue squad's efforts would have been fruitless from the beginning.

"Forgive me my Tallest." The Advisor said as he left.

Zim turned to Damaei. "Make sure they leave."

Damaei nodded and followed them.

Zim watched the rescue squad's ship fly away. He felt a certain pride that only Bounty Hunters feel.

He looked at the Tallest, who still knelt on the floor of the bridge.

"So," He said, turning to his team. "What would you like for this evening's meal?"

Max looked at Zim with an expression that said 'are you out of your freaking mind!'

"Are you nuts? We just got away with capturing the Tallest for the Resisty, and you're asking us what we want for dinner?"

"Yep. We have accomplished what no others have ever done before. We conquered the might of the Irken Empire!"

Max smiled. "Well, in that case…"


End file.
